Monday, December 29, 2008

I have yet to find/see the video on this, but a few outlets are freaking out because the NFL on FOX's Howie Long decided to call co-worker Terry Bradshaw a "scumbag" during the pregame show on the network. The comment came after Bradshaw said he was rooting for the Lions to lose their last game and finish 0-16. Via Phil Mushnick at the NY Post....

WHAT are we doing to us, why do we continue to do it, and when, if ever, will it stop?

Two minutes into Fox's one-hour pregame yesterday, host Curt Menefee noted that panelist Terry Bradshaw last week said he'd like to see the Lions finish 0-16.

"S--bag," panelist Howie Long said of Bradshaw.

"I am a s--bag," Bradshaw said.

That gave Long, Bradshaw and Fox 58 minutes to apologize, to express their regrets to a national audience for having ambushed it during Sunday daylight.

None came. Perhaps they felt they'd said nothing inappropriate, or, at worst, it was no big deal. Hey, if there were kids watching, that's what the Fox robot is for!

I think Phil Mushnick is a fine journalist, but that's a little much if you ask me. I'm of the vein that thinks kids have heard a thousand times worse in their time on this Earth, but I guess I'm not the person who should decide where the line is drawn. I didn't even know the term "scumbag" was that bad of an insult. Good to know.

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Comments:

Mushnick always does shit like this. Sitting up on his high horse and judging others. It isn't right to openly root against teams that you have no vested interest in. Howie was right to call Terry a scumbag. Just like it's right to call Mushnick a scumbag as well.

Ummm, wow. And to think that I saw this and thought absolutely nothing of it.

I agree with GMoney. While not right to openly root against a team that one has no vested interest in, Mushnick has no argument here. If "scumbag" is the absolute worst thing a kid hears in his life, then that's one kid who really needs to get out more.

Actually Phil Mushnick is wrong. Both Howie and Terry are entitled to their own opinion, and saying scumbag because of it isn't that bad. Both actually had a vested interest in the game because Terry wanted to see history and Howie, because the Packers beat the Raiders in Super Bowl II, wanted to see Green Bay lose and make history as the only team that lost to Detroit this season.

that being said, i think a lot of people were rooting for the lions to go 0-16 to save them from themselves. i hated listening to the radio and hearing ex-players saying they hoped the lions won a game. look at the BIG positive that came from this: matt millen is gone.

it's one thing to go 3-13 or 5-12 year after year, but now they can look at that 0-16 on the wall and say 'jesus, what have we become?'.

it sucks they went 0-16 but if they played the browns today, they would beat them.

I can't stand Mushnick and his moral high horse. I also dispute that he's a "fine journalist." Until right now, I had no idea that a "scumbag" could be construed as a used condom. I'll bet most people watching the FOX pregame had no idea, either. Mushnick should just up.

I'm shocked that NY Post is making such a big deal about this, when Fox Sports and the NY Post are in the same company whenever Fox News does something stupid they never mention but when its MSNBC.....

I guess that shows that Fox Sports does'nt associate itself with the other divisions?

Exactly how should they have apologized? "On last week's program, Howie Long referred to Terry Bradshaw using a term that now means 'despicable person,' but which originally meant a used condom. We apologize for those of you who were born prior to the Depression and who thought that Howie was calling Terry a sackful of jism. We would also like to apologize to the people who now have to explain two profanities to their children who read the newspaper and asked what 's---bag' meant. Although in our defense, 'scumbag' isn't nearly as profane as the other meaning, and it's a lot more fun for all parties involved."